For most of these people competing 10k is not life changing amount of money. I don't think Mr Beast is allowed/is in his best interest to select people whom 10k is life changing amount because it would be bordering cruelty to have people compete for their future.
So I think it is better to keep going for more opportunities to cash out at a higher rate since it's later in the show.
They r like playing for their team for some reason when this isnt a team game
Regarding this, I think sometimes people leave for their team because they realize the chances of them winning is so low so they would rather have the temporary satisfaction of being part of the reason their team moves on rather than seeing the people they got close to devastated.
Also, for the most part it is a team game. And you actually have to utilize relations to try and convince your teammate to not be the one who eliminates the team.
Though it's really disappointing that the early games mainly relied on having teammates that didn't eliminate themselves